1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a photographing apparatus which performs photographing while auto-focusing and has a superior fast photographing capability (a snapshot function).
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional photographing apparatus such as a digital camera, an auto-focusing (AF) operation is initiated when the shutter button is half pressed and then photographing is performed by fully pressing the shutter button. In such an apparatus, photographing is not allowed until the AF operation is complete. As a result, fast photographing is not possible because it would require photographing when the AF operation is not yet complete.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-274267, in an AF photographing mode, photographing is not allowed when an in-focus operation is performed so that fast photographing is impossible. Also, although a shutter change may be obtained in a fixed focus photographing mode, since photographing is made with a fixed focus, it is not possible to obtain a clear image.